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Your views greatly appreciated - Gathering information

Hi All,
My first post, i am simply gathering as much info as i can before i proceed with any orders so was hoping you could help and guide me, i understand most of what i am going to ask is personal preference however if like me you have absolutely no idea on anything then what i read from you will help me to decide ultimately.

The pond will need to be above ground, probably be a fully cladded pre made fiberglass tank with a viewing screen, dimensions 3m x 2.4m x 1.3m around 9800 litres or 2150 gallons, what are your views on these preformed tanks ? space unfortunately does not allow something to be purposely built so wont be as pretty, if i go for this option i can maximize available space and water volume.

Reading many articles this volume of water and space can accommodate upto 8 fish ?

Again reading articles a bottom drain gravity fed filtration system is the preferred option so for the above set up what would you use for the pump filtration and UV, i know i need to go overkill on this but quite confusing with so many options, budget around £2k

I agree with Craig. If £2k is your total budget I doubt you will get a tank that size alone for that money. If you have £2k for filtration etc then get a QK 15 drum and a shower. It will be more than capable of filtering your pond. I used a preformed pond on my setup but the biggest I could find was 5000 litres. It cost around £250 on fleabay. Have a look at my build thread for some idea of how it turned out.

Hi, sorry to be clear the £2k is for the filtration side of things.... thanks Steve.

In that case you could have great filtration for that money.
I am assuming your pond would come with all the necessary pipework and valves as they soon eat into a budget. My pipework and valves came to a bloody fortune and I hadn't really budgeted that much for them so came as a big kick up the arris when I had to start buying them.

thanks for your reply, no i had not given valves and pipework much thought regarding cost, how much should i put aside for this ? thanks Steve.

LOADS
I think I spent about £600 on pipe and valves. I will try and find my old list and will pm it over to you when I find it as a guide. I did find coastal koi the cheapest for all the bits though but would advise you do a complete list and order all in one go as I must have spent an additional postage where I kept forgetting things.

forget the 4k on a tank and build one out of sleepers,cost me about £1500 for 96 to make my 6m x 3mx x1.2m pond,window will cost you about £600 if in a frame,and get a boxweld liner or have pond fiberglassed,you could probably do the whole thing including filters for 4k,,,,andi

forget the 4k on a tank and build one out of sleepers,cost me about £1500 for 96 to make my 6m x 3mx x1.2m pond,window will cost you about £600 if in a frame,and get a boxweld liner or have pond fiberglassed,you could probably do the whole thing including filters for 4k,,,,andi

thanks Andi,
its another option for me to think about, thanks for the information, Steve.

So with your budget you have some great options, just need to prioritise accordingly.

I personally would go Box Liner with top notch filtration versus pre-formed with average filtration. Those QK drums have fantastic reviews....but you'll need a bio chamber as well so bear that in mind.

So with your budget you have some great options, just need to prioritise accordingly.

I personally would go Box Liner with top notch filtration versus pre-formed with average filtration. Those QK drums have fantastic reviews....but you'll need a bio chamber as well so bear that in mind.

Thanks RS,
God blessed some men with hands that could perform such builds, i on the other hand was blessed with hands that as yet i have no idea what they are ultimately good at, give me a saw and a piece of wood and a line to follow and within a few cm i am already drifting away from the line, i am simply rubbish at DIY sadly and so have to pay the price..... rgds Steve.

Thanks RS,
God blessed some men with hands that could perform such builds, i on the other hand was blessed with hands that as yet i have no idea what they are ultimately good at, give me a saw and a piece of wood and a line to follow and within a few cm i am already drifting away from the line, i am simply rubbish at DIY sadly and so have to pay the price..... rgds Steve.

ive done my pond 5 times now,4 times on old pond just raising sides and digging deeper and fitting a window and bottom drain,first pond was 1500g out of breezeblock,ended at just shy of 4000g by time id finished,then after an end wall crack let the wall move i knocked down for my new pond,sleepers are so easy to use,especially when layed flat,as your just sitting them on top of each other,and as theyre 8ft long it goes up quick,and all you need to know what to do is drill a hole to knock rebar in and how to use a screwdriver to screw them all together,my advice on any building work is,think about what you want to do for 30 minutes going over in your head,then just do it and hope it works as it should lol also measure 3 times and cut once,this is my first pond in pic 1 and new pond 2&3,,, andi

Thanks RS,
God blessed some men with hands that could perform such builds, i on the other hand was blessed with hands that as yet i have no idea what they are ultimately good at, give me a saw and a piece of wood and a line to follow and within a few cm i am already drifting away from the line, i am simply rubbish at DIY sadly and so have to pay the price..... rgds Steve.

SMartin. I was the same as you, I never touched a hammer screwdriver or was even allowed near a saw for over 20 years when I decided to build my first pond out of sleepers. I ended up putting a roof over it decking between the pond and shed and then decided it wasn’t big enough after 2 seasons so took it all down and started again.
i still have to deck around the pond and build a proper filter shed and then decide whether to roof it out or not but to be honest I don’t feel daunted at the prospect. In fact I am quite looking forward to getting the too.s about when the weather picks up.
it is surprising what you can do if you take your time and have an end goal in your mind of what you want to achieve.

Just a couple of points . Firstly , do what your doing now , and get as much advice as possible from people who`ve done it ,before you start . A lot of it will be conflicting - especially around filtration - but eventually you`ll build up a picture for what suits your needs .
Check out the pond construction threads on here - some great help and advice to be had . And visit other peoples ponds , if possible - you can see how things work properly , which will help .

One question which springs to mind is why your pond needs to be fully above ground level ? It will give you more options , if you can have part of it below ground .

Some things I would definitely include in your plan would be an aerated bottom drain - on a gravity fed system . A skimmer is a good option , and also a trickle feed with an overflow - to keep your pond level constant .

Also , if your a reasonable DIYer , doing most of the work yourself will save you loads . Just get the experts in for things like fibre-glassing ect .

I'm at the stage where I'm buying pipework, valves and fittings so far this month I've spent over £300 on them, I have previously bought some of the fittings and pipework so these are the last bits I need to finish off. to give you an idea I've bought 2 4 inch ball valves, 2 4 inch slide valves all second hand, about 8 2 inch elbows some adapters a length of pipe and some parts for the air lines. if you can find someone selling parts 2nd hand it'll work out much cheaper, but I had no idea how expensive these parts were until I needed to buy lots this month